Commander James Bond is a Senior Operational Officer of the 'Double-O' ('00') Branch, an ultra-covert Black Ops unit within the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). As an agent of MI6, Bond holds code number "007". The 'double-O' prefix indicates his discretionary licence to kill in the performance of his duties.

Contents

Film biography

Shared background

Although very little of Bond's past is directly addressed in Pierce Brosnan's films, it is assumed that his Bond continues to share the common background laid out by the Ian Fleming novels and preceding Bond films.

In the novels, James Bond is the son of a Scottish father, Andrew Bond of Glencoe, and a Swiss mother, Monique Delacroix, from the Canton de Vaud. He acquired a first-class command of the French and German languages during his early education, which he received entirely abroad. Both parents were tragically killed during a climbing accident in the French Alps which was revealed in GoldenEye.

"We're both orphans, James. But where your parents had the luxury of dying in a climbing accident, mine survived the British betrayal and Stalin's execution squads."

After the death of his parents, Bond goes to live with his aunt, Miss Charmain Bond, where he completes his early education. Later, he briefly attends Eton College at "12 or thereabouts", but is removed after two halves because of girl trouble with a maid. After being sent down from Eton, Bond was sent to Fettes College in Scotland, his father's school.[4]

Bond and Jinx meet in Cuba

After leaving Fettes, earlier EON films note that Bond studied at Cambridge University. [5][6] There, he achieved a first in Oriental languages. [7] In Fleming's novels, Bond alluded to briefly attending the University of Geneva (as did Fleming), before being taught to ski in Kitzbühel. [8]Following his graduation, Bond joined the Ministry of Defence and became a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves, rising though the ranks to commander. Bond applied to M for a position within the "Secret Service", part of the Civil Service, and rose to the rank of principal officer.

"I think you're a sexist, misogynist dinosaur, a relic of the Cold War."

― M to James Bond in Goldeneye.

In 1986, Bond and his close friend Alec Trevelyan, agent 006, infiltrate an illicit Soviet chemical weapons facility and plant explosive charges. Trevelyan is shot, but Bond escapes from the facility as it explodes. Nine years later, Bond witnesses the theft by Xenia Onatopp, operative of criminal organisation Janus, of a prototype Eurocopter Tiger helicopter that can withstand an electromagnetic pulse. Janus uses the helicopter to steal the control disk for the dual GoldenEye satellite weapons, using the GoldenEye to destroy the complex with an electromagnetic pulse; there is one survivor of the attack, a programmer, Natalya Simonova.

Bond investigates the attack and travels to Russia where he locates Simonova and learns that Trevelyan, who had faked his own death, was the head of Janus. Simonova tracks computer traffic to Cuba and she and Bond travel there and locate Trevelyan, who reveals his plan to steal money from the Bank of England before erasing all of its financial records with the GoldenEye, concealing the theft and destroying Britain's economy. Bond and Simonova destroy the satellite facility, killing Onatopp and Trevelyan in the process.

"You forgot the first rule of mass media Elliot! Give the people what they want!"

― James Bond To Elliot Carver In Tomorrow Never Dies

Bond investigates into the sinking of a British warship in Chinese waters, the theft of one of the ship's cruise missiles—and the shooting down of a Chinese fighter plane. He uncovers a link to media mogul Elliot Carver which suggests that Carver had purchased a GPS encoder on the black market, finding it in his headquarters in Hamburg.

Bond encounters Chinese agent Wai Lin in Vietnam, who is also investigating the matter and the two agree to work together. They discover that Carver had used the GPS encoder to push the British ship off course and into Chinese waters in order to incite a war for ratings. With the British fleet on their way to China, Bond and Wai Lin find Carver's stealth ship, board it and prevent the firing of a British cruise missile at Beijing. They blow a hole in the ship, exposing it to radar, leading to its sinking averting war between Britain and China.

Bond recovers money for Sir Robert King, a British oil tycoon and friend of M, but the money is booby-trapped and kills King shortly afterwards. Bond traces the money to Renard, an ex KGB agent-turned-anarchist, who had previously kidnapped King's daughter Elektra. MI6 believes that Renard is targeting Elektra King a second time and Bond is assigned to protect her: the pair are subsequently attacked in Azerbaijan.

Bond visits Valentin Zukovsky and is informed that Elektra's head of security, Davidov, is in league with Renard: Bond kills Davidov and follows the trail to a Russian ICBM base in Kazakhstan. Posing as a Russian nuclear scientist, Bond meets American nuclear physicist Christmas Jones. The two witness Renard stealing the GPS locator card and a half quantity of weapons-grade plutonium from a bomb and set off an explosion, from which Bond and Jones escape. Elektra kidnaps M after she thinks Bond had been killed and Bond establishes that Elektra intends to create a nuclear explosion in a submarine in Istanbul in order to increase the value of her own oil pipeline. Bond frees M, kills Elektra and then disarms the bomb on the submarine and kills Renard.

Bond investigates North Korean Colonel Tan-Sun Moon, who is illegally trading African conflict diamonds for weaponry. Moon is apparently killed and Bond is captured and tortured for 14 months, after which he is exchanged for Zao, Moon's assistant. Despite being suspended on his return, he decides to complete his mission and tracks down Zao to a gene therapy clinic, where patients can have their appearances altered through DNA restructuring. Zao escapes, but the trail leads to British billionaire Gustav Graves.

Graves unveils a mirror satellite, "Icarus", which is able to focus solar energy on a small area and provide year-round sunshine for crop development. Bond discovers Moon has also undergone the gene therapy and has assumed the identity of Graves. Bond then exposes Moon's plan: to use the Icarus to cut a path through the Korean Demilitarized Zone with a concentrated sun powered laser, allowing North Korean troops to invade South Korea un-opposed and reunite the countries through force. Bond disables the Icarus controls, kills Moon and stops the invasion.

In 1986, NBC cancelled Remington Steele and Brosnan was offered the role of 007, but the publicity revived Remington Steele and Brosnan had to decline the role, owing to his contract.[12] The producers instead hired Timothy Dalton for The Living Daylights (1987), and Licence to Kill (1989).[13]
Legal squabbles between the Bond producers and the studio over distribution rights resulted in the cancellation of a proposed third Dalton film in 1991[14] and put the series on a hiatus for several years. On 7 June 1994, Brosnan was announced as the fifth actor to play Bond.[15]

Brosnan was signed for a three-film Bond deal with the option of a fourth. The first, 1995's GoldenEye, grossed US $350 million worldwide,[16] the fourth highest worldwide gross of any film in 1995,[17] making it the most successful Bond film since Moonraker, adjusted for inflation.[18] It holds a 78% Rotten tomato rating,[19] while Metacritic holds it at 65%.[20] In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film 3 stars out of 4, and said Brosnan's Bond was "somehow more sensitive, more vulnerable, more psychologically complete" than the previous ones, also commenting on Bond's "loss of innocence" since previous films.[21]James Berardinelli described Brosnan as "a decided improvement over his immediate predecessor" with a "flair for wit to go along with his natural charm", but added that "fully one-quarter of Goldeneye is momentum-killing padding."[22]

Brosnan returned in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies and 1999's The World Is Not Enough, which were also successful. In 2002, Brosnan appeared for his fourth and final time as Bond in Die Another Day, receiving mixed reviews but was a success at the box office. Brosnan himself subsequently criticised many aspects of his fourth Bond movie. During the promotion, he mentioned that he would like to continue his role as James Bond: "I'd like to do another, sure. Connery did six. Six would be a number, then never come back."[23]

Shortly after the release of Die Another Day, the media began questioning whether or not Brosnan would reprise the role for a fifth time. At that time, he was approaching his 50th birthday. Brosnan kept in mind that both fans and critics were unhappy with Roger Moore playing the role until he was 58, but he was receiving popular support from both critics and the franchise fanbase for a fifth installment. For this reason, he remained enthusiastic about reprising his role.[24] Throughout 2004, it was rumoured that negotiations had broken down between Brosnan and the producers to make way for a new and younger actor.[25] This was denied by MGM and Eon Productions. In July 2004, Brosnan announced that he was quitting the role, stating "Bond is another lifetime, behind me".[26]
In October 2004, Brosnan said he considered himself dismissed from the role.[27] Although Brosnan had been rumoured frequently as still in the running to play 007, he had denied it several times, and in February 2005 he posted on his website that he was finished with the role.[28]Daniel Craig took over the role on 14 October 2005.[29] In an interview with The Globe and Mail, Brosnan was asked what he thought of Daniel Craig as the new James Bond. He replied, "I'm looking forward to it like we're all looking forward to it. Daniel Craig is a great actor and he's going to do a fantastic job".[30] He reaffirmed this support in an interview to the International Herald Tribune, stating that "[Craig's] on his way to becoming a memorable Bond."[31] Brosnan's last performance as the character came with the 2004 video game (see below), Everything or Nothing, lending his likeness and voice to the character. The game featured an original story and was met with critical acclaim, many stating it the game felt more like a Bond film than Die Another Day did, and thus, is Brosnan's last performance as James Bond.

Videogame appearances

Bond in Everything or Nothing (2004).

During his tenure on the James Bond films, Brosnan also took part in James Bond video games. In 2002, Brosnan's likeness was used as the face of Bond in the James Bond video gameNightfire (voiced by Maxwell Caulfield). Prior to that, Brosnan's likeness was used in video game adaptations of his various films.

In 2004, Brosnan starred in the Bond game Everything or Nothing, contracting for his likeness to be used as well as doing the voice-work for the character that time.[32] This would be the first time a leading Bond actor would provide his voice for a video-game adaptation. It also proved to be the last time Pierce Brosnan would play the role, subsequently being replaced by actor Daniel Craig, the latter of who has provided his voice to most James Bond games during his respective era.

Quotes

"I usually hate killing an unarmed man, cold blooded murder is a filthy business ... but in your case, I feel nothing. Just like you."

Gallery

Trivia

In Tomorrow Never Dies, his naval awards include: Order of the British Empire (military division), Distinguished Service Cross, General Service Medal, United Nations Medal (UNTSO), South Atlantic Medal. That means this Bond at least served from the Falklands war onwards. These medals are different from the Roger Moore Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me.

In Die Another Day, Bond's fake passport gives him the alias Alex Smith, states that he was born in London, England, and gives him a birthdate of May 6, 1960. This would mean that he is trying to pass off as being 42 years old, when it is assumed that he is much older. However, his actual passport gives him a birthdate of November 10, 1953, which would make him 49 in Die Another Day.

Brosnan's portrayal of Bond is the first and so far only one to sport a full beard, as seen in Die Another Day.

Brosnan's Bond was the last to smoke overall, seen smoking a cigar in Die Another Day.